Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: To disability empowerment. Now season four bonus episode.
I don't know the number count anymore.
I'm back with my co host and very good friend Elena Mallet and we are at part three of our debatch mode deep dive through a love and devotion lens of all of their music. Elena, welcome back.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Thanks for having me.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: So we Judge finished up Ultra and Exciter in the last jam packed episode. Now we are on to playing the angel, which is the third album that Dave Gann wrote songs for.
[00:01:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: So I wanted all. Do you want to start it off?
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I want it all is. Again, this hearkens to their just love is not Enough. You know, they want all of everything and they even say that it's my desire to give myself to you.
And I think it really is. Again, about these feelings of intense love. That love is never easy. It's always intense.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Yeah, this is a very intense album. Very aggressive sounding. The first few tracks. Actually, I would say the third half of the album is.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Is.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Very much a hard rock sounding album.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: And Prejudice is the birds music video that I saw.
And it is the third real song that Martin actually told people.
[00:02:51] Speaker A: Right.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: What it was about, which was his divorce at the time and its effect on his children.
And incredibly intimate and beautiful song.
And so Nothing's Impossible.
Another very beautiful song.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: Yeah. I think that again, this is about somebody who's left their life and they want back.
You know, they sing about this kind of theme that love, loss can be won back and that they say even the stars shine brighter tonight. And nothing's impossible. So even maybe this feeling that they're star crossed.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Lovers. You know what I mean? And.
And it didn't work the first time, but. Or missed connection. But they're hoping this can be rekindled.
It's. It's a sad, intense song. Again, like I said, this album is very intense electronically as well.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: And this is one of those that is not highly uplifting, but definitely thoughtful.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: What about Lillian?
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Lillian is about. Again, this is Depeche Mode's rare theme of looking at a woman from the outside, you know, versus feeling utterly obsessed with her. Yeah.
But he kind of does sing about having a love with her. I mean, I take that back. It really is about love. It's.
You know, he says, you took my heart, you ripped it apart. And just for fun. So wait. Yeah, I take it back. It really is about a woman who's been toying with him. He says, you're a loaded gun. And so I think there's Just this implication that Lillian's been messing around with his feelings and heart and has never committed herself to.
To him. Yeah.
[00:04:58] Speaker B: And one song they left off the album but put on the Gradient Hits they released around this time.
It's a song called Martyr.
That is another banner. Oh, yeah, totally would have fit.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: Perfectly in the middle of the album. It's so mouth watering.
[00:05:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: It's very strange phrase to describe a song, but the music and the lyrics all 1, 2, 3, 4, punch.
[00:05:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:55] Speaker B: It.
This album as a whole, it's aggressively electronic.
Another total opposite from what they went through with Ultra, what they explored on Exciter.
This band is very good at reinventing themselves from album to album.
And you see that with their next album, which is their most philadesophago and metaphysical taking on exploring the universe as a whole with the aptly named sounds of the Universe.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Yes.
Album starts off. And we're also going to go with the song In Chains.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Because In Chains is a tormented song.
Tormented love. And that's really, you know, it speaks for itself. I think chains is just worth going to listen to. Versus me describing it. It's another one of those kind of bangers, the slow. The slow banger, which is kind of like dead of night. It slams. That's what I'm looking for. I'm like. It's a slamming song. It slams. It hits.
Starts out slow. It's a long song for Depeche Mode. It's much longer, but for a.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Open too.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: But it climbs. It's one of those songs that just gets climatic and just keeps going and going and going and escalating and so that's what I like about it. But it's pretty straightforward. It's really just about feeling in chained to somebody and not really being able to have a healthy relationship with this person. But you're in chains. You can't seem to leave either.
[00:08:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And it.
Third single of the album. Wrong, which we talked about in the other part.
[00:08:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: The other series.
They always try with the third single of every album to reinvent the show, which is another creatively genius idea. And I mean, watching the music video, it's like watching a horror show.
A horror movie in about five minutes. It's brilliant for the concept.
[00:09:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: And so fragile tension.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: Sorry. Our local patrol crow is out for his Gestapo stomping through the neighborhood.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Wait, did you just say local patrol crow?
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Yeah, he's got a tune. He comes stamping through the street with his little feet and he does it every day at the same. And I was, like, a little distracted. But he's. He literally goes by every house just with his little feet going up, and he just does this casual walk around. It is the funniest thing to watch him.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Could you please take your video the next.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: I know I should have.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: I mean, he's the whole entire neighborhood watch program that you have.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: Yeah. It's gonna check on the old lady across the street. He goes. He's in her yard. Sometimes he does that. He goes up to a person's door for a while, and then he, like, comes back down like he's the funniest little thing. I don't know. Or she.
It's a. It's a funny creature. Yep. Here they come back towards the road. They're satisfied. They got to. She's good. I don't know what. What determines that everyone's good. But he's funny. Yeah. I swear to God. He's on patrol. I've seen this sucker, like, fight off hawks. I mean, this guy is like.
He defends his girlies. You know what I mean? Like the little birds. Like, he. He'll start screaming and call all his friends, and they're all just like, wow. Like, yeah, they've beaten off like a bolt. We saw Vulture one day, and a couple of them took him down. But they all live in this neighborhood. It's the funniest thing. They all have their little paths and their little walks, but. Yeah. Anyway. So sorry. I was distracted. So fragile tension.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Beautiful distract.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: It is a beautiful distract. I was like, what is moving? And then I was like, oh, yeah, Just the local gestapo crow just doing his little stomp through the neighborhood on the tar. Nonetheless, it's all like. He uses the grass. It's just like.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: God may fly across the country and come visit just to see this.
See? Yeah, that sounds. And what I'm imagining in my head sounds hilarious. Like a day.
Swagger, crow, judge. Owning.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:34] Speaker B: The neighborhood.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Yeah. He's still walking, by the way. He's not lifted a feather. And he's two homes down now.
Wow. Just walking. I'm not kidding. He does the whole ride.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: He owns the whole neighborhood.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: And little tail, just 12ft.
Anyway. All right.
Is really what it is. It's about.
This is a fragile tension keeping us going.
I really think this song could be about something that hasn't come to be yet. You know what I mean? A connection that is there, but they're not making it happen. That's how I've always interpreted it. Is because he also says. What does he say? This There's a strange darkness in the air or whatever. So it's like. I think he's really kind of talking about how the fragility of, like, crushes or connections with people outside of your realm or relationships or your existing little circle. Right. And that is fragile. Right. It can.
It can break any moment or go the wrong direction.
You know, it can make or break you. Those kinds of strange little. That's my interpretation. I could be totally off. I think it's really about those little nuanced relationships in our lives that, like, could either change the whole course of our life because of our overthinking it or just kind of completely fades all of a sudden. Right. And there's that fragile tension. It goes either way, right? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: And next we have Come Back, which I believe is a song Dave wrote.
He certainly.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: About. Right.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: Like, he wrote it.
He sings very beautifully on it.
It's a song about longing and wanting a relationship back.
It's a song about regret.
And what are your thoughts?
[00:13:59] Speaker A: It's a song about regret. It's a song about wishing she'd come back. He says, I'll be waiting patiently he says, Walking a thin white line, you know, and it. It's really this sad song. He says, in truth and in reality, only kindness, you know, can hide it. You know, or what it says. Only kindness can hide it away.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Blinded away or whatever. It's like he's really singing about this pain of losing this person and wishing they would follow.
Follow their heart and come back to him. And I think you nailed it. It's sad. It does sound like a Dave song. He's always very soft and emotional with his lyrics.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: He did write it, and he said at the time it's one of his favorite songs on the album, which I can totally get. It's very sad. It's. It's very sensitive, but it's incredibly beautiful. And the way in which she sings it and evokes emotion in that song.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Is.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Kind of reminiscent of how Modern evokes emotion in Home in the Bottom Line.
[00:15:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: Martin has always been very good at doing that. Not that Dave isn't.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: But it's a different flavor entirely when you're singing your own stuff.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, too, not to harp on the song. We got to move on. But, like, the composition, too, is very complex and. And hearkens to their industrial sound of the 80s. And I think I just had to mention that is. It's.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: It can be hard song to listen to if you're not in the mood because it is sad and emotional and yet the sound effects are so fitting and. And I love how experimental it sounds. And isn't. It's not simple.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: I'm glad you brought that up because yet the music is very complex and the lyrics all exactly opposite. They are very simple, but they're very grounded. And that makes the song even more beautiful because you have this.
I'll just say it.
Complicated marriage of sounds, simple lyrics, complicated music.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:16] Speaker B: Two opposite sets.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Complicated marriage, partnership, whatever.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: It's just all in that one song. And it's a beautiful step of maturity began for in his writing career.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Miles away.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: The truth is, this one's about emotional distance, you know, and it's weird and kooky sounding and, you know, but I really think that this is a song that straight up about connecting properly. Right. One is longing for the connect, not connecting properly. That one is longing for the connection, but the other one's just like, nope. Like truth. And that's what this says. The truth is, you're miles away. And he's like, well, excuse me for my hesitation, but I think we've been here before.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: You know, and so it's like he's kind of, you know, he says, your eyes. There's something that I just can't understand, you know, or something like, to that effect. And I think he's really just singing about somebody just being absolutely emotionally unavailable.
You know, who he wants to be available whether they're together or whether it's a date or, you know, whatever it is. Right.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: And so what about Corrupt, which is a very interesting title.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a dirty boy song. You can't have a Depeche Mode album without a dirty boy song. I mean, come on. Like I said, men, listen up. This is.
This is your album. And girls, this is your heater. Like, I mean, just, you know, like, Corrupt is.
It's fun, it's gritty, It's a slamming song again. Or as we say, banger. But I think. I think the bangers are the fast paced. I think this one slams. It's a slam song again. Not fast, but it's.
It has some slaps to it. You know what I mean? And it's.
It's fun. It's just about corrupting you. And you'd be begging and crying out my name. And I'm like, I don't know. I don't need to say more than that. Listen to Corrupt. It's a fun one. If you need some fun music tonight, Corrupt is A is a fun one.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: So, Vincent, why you're the super fan. Vincent, why you'll always be the super fan?
[00:19:54] Speaker A: You.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: You tell me like you did until we get to the next album, Delta Machine, which I must admit was quite a grower on me.
It required a lot of lidsons. It was actually the third the Pej Mode album that required that I came in on Sounds of the Universe. It was the first new album that I bought.
I came in, George, in the middle of playing the Angels and sounds. And so Delta Machine was a interesting journey for me. And I still remember your rant.
Complex love hate relationship rant.
[00:21:17] Speaker A: I took.
I took about probably, I would say like five years before I listened to it again. That's probably the only Depeche Mod album that I didn't even bother a second lesson. I was like, screw that. I didn't like it. I think Should Be Higher. I took away immediately obsessed with Should Be Higher.
Put that on a playlist for my workout, and that was it. I abandoned the rest of the album for quite some time.
I think it was that Matt actually liked Delta Machine. So we were going down Depeche Mode, Depeche Mode phase because he was curious about the music I listened to and he liked Delta Machine. Again, my husband Matt.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:55] Speaker A: Sorry. Oh. For the audience. Okay. I was like.
[00:21:56] Speaker B: Yeah, well.
Well, no, I. I'm a little slow to.
[00:22:00] Speaker A: I'm a little slow to pick up. So Matt, my husband, likes Delta Machine. That's his favorite album.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Interesting.
[00:22:09] Speaker A: Yeah. By Depeche Mode.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: So really interesting.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: He likes like Heaven. He likes Heaven. He likes Angel.
Yeah. He likes the gritty sound of it.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: Wow. Okay. That.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Dave croons on this album. So he really enjoys his crooning.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Absolutely does.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: So. So for going with Slow. Yeah.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: It actually had a very interesting history and we touched about it in the other series.
Slow was actually a song written in.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: The.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: Songs of Jaden Devotion era of the band.
What considered for that album was left off that album and just shelved for years.
Decades even.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:23:25] Speaker B: And because again, I do a lot of research and they judge write it on this album.
[00:23:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: So they've been Devotion.
Delta Machine there is about.
I don't even want to hatch it against. But I have to continue talking about this.
So while I do calculation.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: Yeah, that's all right. So slow is loving and sexy. I think it's about going slow, you know, in the bedroom. But I also think he's talking about the romance. That's so. You know, he talks about let your body go, let your soul Go like, I. I think he's really talking about taking time to build a deeper connection physically and emotionally.
It's not one of my Depeche Mode jams. It's like, again, this album isn't my jam. It's not a slammer. It's not a banger. This album has few bangers on it, and it's.
But for those who like kind of a crooney, bluesy slash industrial combo, it's, you know, a good bra song.
[00:25:03] Speaker B: So Delta Machine came out in 2013.
Songs of Vaping Devotion came out in 1993.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: Yeah. So 20 years later.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: 20 years.
This is the oldest.
The Patch Mode beach side that we know.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: The oldest song that would probably own someone's hard drive.
Hard drive. And he's like, oh, let's pick up this jam that I wrote 20 years ago.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: I just find that hilarious. I mean, it fits for this album. It does totally fit. But you couldn't know that 20 years in the past.
[00:26:11] Speaker A: No. Yeah. It would have been a very different sound then. I mean, they're both bluesy styles, but, like, it's. I think. I think it fit on Delta.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: And so Soothe My Soul, which, again, just by the title, I think you know where this band is going.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: Do we? Not everybody see, not everybody knows that if you're a Depeche 1 van, you know, it Soothed My Soul's going for, which is a dirty boy banger.
And this is also, again, one of those that I'm GLAD I released five years later in, like, 2000, you know, 18, 20, 17, because it was.
This is one's a banger. This one's back on my faves Depeche Mode list. I. I think in the midst of my hatred of this album, some of these songs got a.
Thrown into the mix, and I didn't really give a listen of like, oh, wait, this one's good. You know what I mean?
[00:27:12] Speaker B: Thank you, Matt.
Thank you.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
So. So my soul. I would have gotten there eventually.
You know, Depeche Mode's in My Heart.
Soothe My Soul is straight up dirty. It's dirty talk.
It's a dirty song. It's. He says, I'm coming for you like a junkie. And I. I think that that sums up this song. And like I say, complete banger. If you guys need a good running song, turn that sucker on right now.
It's fun. It's Dave at his best with his older years, his older version of his voice.
It's. You know, the lyric, girl, I'm shaking, you Know I need more. I mean, it's hot. It's a hot, fun, cheeky song.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: And so we now move on to Spirit, which was their most eventually political album. It was also, unfortunately, the last album that Andy Fletch recorded with them ever.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
So you move another dirty boy. Another dirty boy banger.
This is our only dirty boy banger on this album.
And it's, as you said, I like the way you move for me tonight. And it's a lot of Dave just singing the same lyrics over and over. And, you know, he does sing a few songs. A few lyrics about songs, a few lyrics about which I couldn't even tell you. There's a few lyrics. You don't pay attention to them because all you're hearing is David thinking about how he's demanding you take off your clothes and move for him. So that's really what you pay attention to. This is another one of those electronically fun songs where there's those little twinkle sounds, you know, that I'm talking about, that make the detachment so, right Is they know where to put the like.
And it's like, to me, Depeche Mode synthesizers. If you were to say, like, well, what's the difference between them and Daft Punk, right? Like, what do I love Daft Punk as? Well, you know, you've got like somebody like daft punk or deadmau5. Daft punk, specifically. Is this French, you know, Euro techno, right? Which is really based on the early sounds of disco. But combined with the 90s, you know, tech sound that came out and they continued to. On with that kind of sound, this powerhouse sound of all the electronic throughout the decades. What they, you know, and it's.
It's electronically charged. When you listen to Daft Punk, it's just electro, electro, electro, electro. Or somebody like Dead Mouse, right? You're going to their concert and you're just like, bow, bow, bow, bow. But like, you go to Depeche Mode and there's a score story.
[00:30:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: And the story is told not just through Dave's voice or Martin's voice or their voices together when they harmonize, but there is something about. Even the way they use synthesizers as almost their own voice. And so it's like the minute Dave stops or Martin stops, there is a little sound effect. There's something else carrying, you know, these little breaks, right? And so to me, you move is so. So complex because dirty and simple. And yet there's these, like.
All these different sounds going. Connecting you to the next part.
And it's.
I think that I just have to discuss that is like, you Move is rich. It is very rhythmically and digitally rich, comparatively to the rest of this album.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: Yeah, it's interesting that it's on this album because of the overall context, the reds of the album, which is very, very political in nature, and yet this very raw, very complex dirty boy song.
Yeah, it's very weird that they made it fit on this album.
[00:31:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I would agree, because this album is highly political and.
And kind of even angry, kind of frustrated. And it is a we. They did make it fit. But, you know, and I say dirty boy songs, but honestly, I'm gonna say that you Move is a awesome banger that I think is really dedicated to the person in their life, the woman in their life. You don't get the sense that they're asking any random woman. There are some other bangers that suggest this can be any woman they had an attraction to that day. But like, this one, I would specifically say is just somebody they deeply respect. But I think they like that aspect of their relationship. Right. And.
And maybe that's kind of how they made it fit. It doesn't sound sleazy somehow. Dave can sing about sex and not sound like a total sleazebag. I don't. Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
[00:32:38] Speaker B: Vince Hawkins, back to their third album, Construction Time, again.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:49] Speaker B: They really wrote accidentally as a concept political album.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: This album, they very.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: Oh, very much complete anger with first Trump administration. It's very obvious.
Brexit. Yeah. There's time.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: It was.
Yeah, it. It. And so I bring up that comparison because it's very apt.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: It's true. You can.
[00:33:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: Hear it on the whole album because they live here in the US now for the last 30 years, but they're from England. And so you can. You. Like you said, you can hear both themes and you can tell which song is about which. I mean, they're very. It's very powerful, very straightforward lyrics, just for anybody reference, not to drag that out. But like you said, Construction Time was a totally different vibe on the job crisis going on in England, you know, in the 80s versus now. They're just watching everything go straight to hell in their home country.
[00:34:05] Speaker B: I mean, there's no polite way to say that.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:11] Speaker B: Cover me.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: This is a sweet, vulnerable song about.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: It's interesting how and why they made it fit on.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: Yeah, it is.
It is. Very much. Again, this can also teeter on religion, you know, and it's an interesting concept song, too. It's an interesting concept. This song is cosmically. Thoughtful and yet also electro and twinkly and kind of. You know what I mean? Gritty and twinkly at the same time. This is the magic of Depeche Mode, and I think Cover Me is one of their magical hidden songs. I'm not going to listen to every day, but, man, when it comes on, sometimes you're like. Like when this one comes on, you're like, oh, I forgot how much this one really picks.
[00:35:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:35:08] Speaker A: Up.
So, yeah, I think that's all you can say about. It's really about finding somebody you can trust or finding a person of your belief that you can trust, you know, and be covered by. You'll cover me, right.
I really do think it's more aligned with somebody here on Earth, you know, finding a. A partner you can trust. But through all the shit, right. That they're singing about on this album.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: What about Eternal?
[00:35:41] Speaker A: Can I. I gotta listen to that. Hold on. That's one of those again, that I'm like. I think I just forget.
That's a slow start. Does this have lyrics?
Is this the one that. Oh, we're.
Did I put this one on here?
[00:36:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
We can skip it.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: I think I'm gonna skip it. I don't remember.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Okay. So much love.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: Sorry, I was like, I don't remember.
[00:36:12] Speaker B: No problem.
[00:36:14] Speaker A: Okay. So much love.
Dave.
I mean, Dave, again, like, belts this one out. This reminds me of Lillian. You know, I mean, kind of the way he sings it, it's a rushing song, has a rushing beat.
He's powerful in how he's singing it. And I really think it's just about finding again that self love and wanting to share it with everybody and finding that higher power in yourself.
And it really is a straightforward song if you listen to it. You know, I mean, it's. I don't. The straightforward ones are hard to describe because you're like, it's pretty. It's pretty. But it's one of the bangers on the album. It's fast, it's energetic.
Do you have more to add to that?
[00:36:59] Speaker B: No.
And now we've come full circle.
We're at their most recent album, Memento Mori, which was another grower.
In fact, there was large. Three albums have been growers on me and. But this one had meant the most to me over time.
And unfortunately, Fletch did not hear any of the. These songs.
He would have absolutely loved them.
He would have lodged his mind over these songs. They are some of the best songs that the band has written in quite some time.
This is probably the Greatest concept album in my mind that they have written since Songs of faith and Devotion. It is a pure meditation on life, depth, it's meaning and all of that. And we touched about it so much in the last part of our lads mini series together.
What are your thoughts on the song don't say you love me?
[00:39:09] Speaker A: Yeah, this one's actually a sadder one. Right. It's a reflection on a relationship that isn't going well and the roles we play in it, you know, so he says, you play the killer, I'll play the saint.
And I think it's, you know, about the fingers we point in a relationship and the victimization we take on. And so in the end he says, don't say you love me because you never loved me. And so it's a sad love song. This is kind of the antithesis of love. It's the end of a relationship.
Yeah, that's good. I like it. It's a rhythmic song.
It's a good composition. I like this one.
[00:39:54] Speaker B: What about before we drown, which is a Dave trapped and it's extremely haunting.
[00:40:06] Speaker A: It is.
This one again is about a classic Dave song, longing to come home and repair and that they've been split apart. And he says, you know, I've been thinking I come back home and how would that be if you and I were alone?
And I think there's this concept that he talks about. Relationships do go through ups and downs. He says, first we stand up and then we fall down, but we have to move forward before we drown. And I think it's just about.
You can't react every time a relationship has a hiccup. You know, you do have to work through together. Yeah.
And it's, it is, it's, it's haunting. It's a beautiful song. I think this one, the complexity as. As I said on the last part, people heard me gush about this album. I'd say this comes in my second fave album and I. I'm absolutely enthralled with it. And I think before we drown is just one of those. Is like the, the sounds, the compositions are so sweeping and beautiful and go listen to it, you know. Yeah, always you haunting as well.
This one, I think, is that crossover. That's why we've talked about it twice now and we're talking or talking about the second time right now is this is. Could be about a higher figure, but it could also be about a person who they're in love with.
HE SINGS MY love the world's upside down Too absurd, you know, is going on about his thoughts about life. But then he says, but then there's you. And it's always you. It's always you. You're the light that leads me from the darkness. Yeah.
There is this sense that throughout the chaos of life, you know, that there is this figure who is. Who has helped them feel like there's any reason, you know, to make sense of anything. And so, again, haunting. I think digitally, this song is incredible. It's one of my top faves by Depeche Mode at this point.
Probably put in the top. I have too many top tens. There's probably more of a top 20 at this point, but it. It ranks in there and in the tops.
Yeah. That's how I interpret it.
[00:42:27] Speaker B: And what about Never Let Me Go?
[00:42:33] Speaker A: This one is a banger. We talked about this before. I got super stoked about Never Let Me Go.
I think this is directly. Probably directly about a. A person. We've. We've done the crossover with this one as well. This is the second time we've mentioned it, I think, just because you can interpret it as a higher power. Yeah. But there are some lyrics suggest it's about a human and about a woman who he's in love with and obsessed with. And he does say, because the lyrics like, I've been painful, patient, and I've been so calm, Please stop with the torment and fall into my arms. So I think that really is more about a woman he's in love with.
And that is taking our sweet getting to the we're together, I'm trusting you point.
But it's hot, it's dark, it's seedy, it's. It's extreme, it's intense for no apparent good reason. And I think it's the best second to last song in an album on all the Dafesh Mode albums.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, we mentioned the.
At the end of the last minute series, we did.
One of the large songs we talked about was a Martin Lad track, Soul with Me.
[00:44:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:01] Speaker B: And the thing I forgot to say in response to the song, it's the ending track, Speak to Me, which is a Dave song.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:44:23] Speaker B: Pretty perfectly parallels.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:29] Speaker B: Yeah, parallel.
That song. That album as a whole, it's a very mature album from guides who have been around the world and back again countless times over.
It's a very aware album of.
[00:45:06] Speaker A: We.
[00:45:06] Speaker B: Are in the in game. I mean, yeah, not the end game, but the golden years of our lives. And we. We just lost one of our best friends.
And it vids.
Vincent's the most Complete on a album that they have sounded since playing the angel, since excited that cohesion, that synergy. I mean, we've talked to Death Pun very much intended on Wagging Tongue song Dave and Martin co wrote together, which they never do.
They should. Absolutely.
They do that more because.
And in fact, if they had to write another album, they should judge co write songs together because they're writing together.
I mean, they could have co wrote Goats Again together.
And I mean, that song in and of itself, in my mind, sums up the entire album, adds a whole. That's another title track they could have used and no one would have bad eye.
[00:47:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:47:09] Speaker B: And yeah, it's a perfect ending if they choose to go out on this album.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: I think so.
[00:47:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
But it's also. The majority of.
You never know where they're going to go next.
And they always reinvent themselves, like in songs. In the documentary for Songs of Faith and Devotion, Dave said no one in the band had any interest in going back into the studio and saying, let's create Violator 2.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:48:10] Speaker B: And they do that across every album.
They treat every album as its own project and they just reinvent themselves.
[00:48:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:48:29] Speaker B: It's band. It's really good at consistently doing that over years and years.
No one can say they don't do this. Even on the two albums we didn't talk about, which it's Speaking Spell and A Broken Frame.
Those are two very different albums. They're similar in the musicianship, but they're different albums.
[00:49:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think since we're wrapping this up, it's, you know, not to say those aren't Depeche Mode albums where you were just following kind of Martin's.
The way he jokes about how they're not really. They don't really feel like their essence.
[00:49:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:32] Speaker A: You know, they deserve their credit. I listen to them. So just for our listeners, you know, I still think Speak and Spell and, you know, Broken Frame are awesome albums and have some incredible songs. I mean, one of my favorites on Broken Frame is Sun and the Rainfall.
[00:49:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:52] Speaker A: Just kind of strange and eerie and thoughtful and strange.
You know, See youe Again is a great one. Off their first album. Right. Is that off Speak and Spell or.
[00:50:05] Speaker B: You age Unbroken Crane, Break in Frame.
[00:50:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:10] Speaker B: And See you was actually a song that Martin wrote when he was a teenager.
[00:50:23] Speaker A: You believe it? I mean, it's a very teenage song, but I mean.
[00:50:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, you can't not believe that that teenager had a song like that in his back pocket.
[00:50:44] Speaker A: It. It's like he's A he's a mature dude. And I just think those albums deserve some cred, you know, like one from Speaking Spells. Photograph of you. That's a great one. Yeah, you know it. They're fun.
Speak and Spells. A little more sparkly, a little more digital.
Definitely. They're very early 80s. It's 81.
[00:51:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:09] Speaker A: 1981. Yeah. So we're talking like this is the first Austin, I think album that like most people had heard from a pop band.
If you're disregarding disco and the discotheque of Europe, you know. So I do want listeners to know that they're. They're awesome albums. Alan Wilder was on Song Speak and Spell.
Right. But like just wasn't quite yet as Depeche Mode.
And I think that's just worth noting is the darker sound. Definitely hit on Broken Frame, you know, versus Speak and Spell.
Vincent Clark was a much more upbeat, sparkly sounding composer going on to create Erasure and Yazoo or Yazoo and more sparkly bands of the 80s and.
But with that all being said, I think they're epic. Near their 44 year career now.
[00:52:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:52:12] Speaker A: Has been nearly 45 years. Has been.
They've created incredible music. There's part of me that wants them to end on Memento Mori and then there's part of me that would love to hear and one more album of course with some awesome bangers. And I think it is interesting it's down to two of them and just to kind of re retie back to your idea of how did the two of them do this awesome album together at the end of it all. And I think it's funny that they talk about putting their gloves down and finally being friends and maybe not having Andy. There was kind of this odd meant to be, you know, is allow the singers of the group, the writers and the singers of the group to really have their moment. Because as Dave says, he felt like Andy Fletcher was always kind of buddy buddy with Martin and a peacemaker in the group and not. And that Dave never felt like he could get quite in. And I think there's an interesting concept that you remove that component and Martin and Dave maybe got their moment to really geek out over each other and respect what each other do. And I think that created ultimately this really intense and likable album where they put down the gloves and allowed each other to flourish as each other are.
[00:53:33] Speaker B: You know, which is very interesting because A Broken Frame was the third time that they were really fought to reinvent themselves.
And they carried that reinvention and that Inner and outer darkness throughout literally all of their albums.
[00:54:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:54:07] Speaker B: And it's interesting that they have said and you read in some article.
[00:54:19] Speaker A: Or.
[00:54:21] Speaker B: Legends and podcasts in which they confess they want really friends.
[00:54:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
And.
[00:54:37] Speaker B: I judge that blows my mind off.
[00:54:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:54:45] Speaker B: Leo, if my head could come off at this moment, it would do that because these guides have traveled the world count legend for almost 50 years.
[00:55:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:55:11] Speaker B: Dave, the lead singer. Martin for much of the band's career was the only songwriter.
How do you.
How do you not more than acquaintances.
I, I mean I don't expect you two to be bad friends, but I also kind of do because.
[00:55:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:55:48] Speaker B: I mean Martin is literally feeding Dave his bread and butter for both of them.
[00:55:59] Speaker A: And yeah.
[00:56:01] Speaker B: So it's like what is friendship to these two dudes that have been together for longer than most middle.
I mean it, it's like.
[00:56:25] Speaker A: Well, it's a day job.
[00:56:26] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's day job.
I mean a question I would love to ask Martin. Other more than the meaning behind any song. It's just that, I mean I, I just.
It's a day job yet.
But that line, that excuse, that justification can only take you so far. And when you're traveling around the world for nearly 50 years.
[00:57:15] Speaker A: I'm sure they don't hate each other, but I, I know Dave's talked about jealousy, you know, that Martin wrote. You know what I mean? And, and as he said, you know, about. It was about what 15 years ago he said or 20 years ago. He finally relaxed and it hit him that Martin's songs are a break on stage for him, you know, but he's like, man, when I was younger, I was so overwhelmed that Martin was going to take over my singing parts, you know, and not. And I was just going to be booted out of the band. And I think there is that probably young hot headedness right of. Here's the one who's really holding the power of the band. You know, Martin wields the, you know, the majority of the power and Dave I think felt.
Yeah, you're the singer and you're worshipped and everybody's looking at you first, you know, I mean. But I think he understood the fragility of that. That. That doesn't mean anything if you can't write the songs if you're not.
Yeah.
[00:58:09] Speaker B: Fragile tension.
[00:58:11] Speaker A: The fragile tension.
[00:58:12] Speaker B: Not a pun, not fidget time.
[00:58:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:58:16] Speaker B: Very, very much what you just said. And it's interesting because we've touched on that in the last episode.
It's very peculiar band dynamic like Martin could have Taken over the band.
She could have kicked Dave out. She could have become the rock star, the front men. Everyone would have expected that because that's what people assume from a lead songwriter.
[00:59:19] Speaker A: And I think that would be understandable for Dave to have felt that way. Yeah. And, yeah, I mean, even Alan, you know, the. From what we understand, Right. What the public's been told, and we don't know these guys for real. Right. So this, A lot of this is speculation or whatever they've given us in interviews, but Alan, you know, really heavily implied that he felt not part of the band. You know, and so when you think about it, it's like 10 years of being part of a band and you still don't feel part of the band.
[00:59:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:59:50] Speaker A: You know what I mean? And he's like sitting there composing their songs, you know, with Martin. And as he said, but here's an Andy Fletcher, you know, getting all the cred just simply because he grew up with Martin and was in the band before me by one album.
And he made that one album. Yeah. And Alan pointed that out. They said in his leaving of the band, he was. He was, you know, I think, fairly clear with the public that he felt sidestepped, underpaid, under recognized and not given enough power in the band when he really was probably why they had their sound, you know what I mean? Like, and I. I think he knew it. And it's not to put. It's not to put Andy down, but Andy was up front him. As you said, Andy's playing a famous. Being their biggest cheerleader. He played the music the way they wanted it played. He didn't create a song, he didn't write a song, he didn't write compositions.
[01:00:44] Speaker B: He.
Not. Not only did he know he didn't have to, he probably didn't want to. I mean, it's like she left that in.
She let that duty in very capable hands. More capable hands than he knew he had.
[01:01:16] Speaker A: There's. There's always that bandmate. Not all bands need to have every guy be absolutely creative, right? Or girl.
And I think that's the reality that, like you said, how did they go all that time without Dave and Martin being besties? And you're like, I think the reality is they're not saying they hated each other. I think it's just as Dave said. When I was younger, I was certainly threatened by Martin and intimidated and worried about my position in the band. And then I think later, as he said, he matured, started ease up and realized, like you said, oh, this is Nice. I can take a break on stage and drink some water while Martin does two or three songs.
[01:01:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:01:54] Speaker A: And. And take a nap. He laugh, you know, now he laughs with Martin about it. But even when I was watching the documentaries, you saw these dynamics from earlier on in their career. And Martin is like this with him. I'm like, you know, while Dave's talking, they're sometimes sitting apart on couches. And now you're seeing them as these two old guys and they're like, right. Like, you know, hitting each other's shoulders. They're telling stories in tandem. And you can really tell there is this sense of not that they hated each other. I think it's more that the gloves came off in terms of, like, I am no longer threatened. I'm no longer competing. I realize that we can.
We both brought incredible strength and we are now 60 something years old.
[01:02:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:02:39] Speaker A: I don't think I'm getting kicked out of the band. And what's crazy is, is that you think about a rock star feeling that insecure all this time.
[01:02:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:02:48] Speaker A: And realizing, like, I made it. Yeah. The band, you know, I mean, and you're like, yeah, dude. It's 45 years later, you made the band.
[01:02:55] Speaker B: Like.
[01:02:56] Speaker A: And I think that they're finally going like, okay, you ready to enjoy this?
[01:03:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:03:02] Speaker A: You know, I mean, are we ready to have fun? And this last concert, I mean, even young people went to the concert. People online, they hit streaming records. Yeah. You know, they hit concert ticket records. They extended their tour.
You know, there was people online, young Instagrammers, like, videoing them and putting on like, this is the best performance I've ever been. And you could see how much fun the two of them were having. And I really think what I mean when I say the gloves came down, what Dave probably ultimately meant was like, oh, I made the band.
[01:03:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:03:33] Speaker A: I should really enjoy myself.
[01:03:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:03:35] Speaker A: I don't need to get on stage and worry if I'm gonna get cut. Like, this is. This is happening. This is real. Everybody's here for us. And maybe it took the death of Andy to kind of see that, but it, It's. I think they've had an epic story and I'm. I'm glad they. They pushed through after he died and didn't give up on this album because really, I think, like you said, highlights both of them and their skills. And when it merged together, it was better than anything I think they'd ever come up with.
[01:04:07] Speaker B: Yeah. No.
The large thing I would say about Alan is that I remember watching the songs Documentary and the.
The end of the album, the end of the recording.
Margin and Alan are having this huge fight over the song. Judith sitting together on the couch having this huge fight.
[01:04:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:04:48] Speaker B: So I. I don't blame him at all for leaving like he did. But with Martin, it was really interesting because just like I mentioned in the last part, if you. If you hear the final minute of tonight where Martin is just harmonizing the background vocals.
[01:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:05:28] Speaker B: And I'm probably reading way too much into that, but whenever Martin was questioned or, why don't you switch up the band?
Why don't you sing more? I mean, you write the songs. Martin was always like, why would we do that? I like the band the way it is.
And.
[01:06:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:06:03] Speaker B: And he said that for decades. And I mean, Joe, he bucked the trend of a songwriter who knew he could write great songs.
He did. Didn't want to sing them. He sang a few.
But even then, when you questioned about what makes it a tape vocal song, what does it make a modern vocal song, their answer, his answer was, it comes down to judges sound better in my vocal range or does it sound better. Better in Dave's vocal range? And so I can understand why Dave was so jealous, so afraid.
But again, mod.
And they've had their back in box.
We've alluded to that.
But you can't think that it feels so silly to them now because they've not only traveled the world countless times, they've basically traveled life together.
[01:07:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:07:51] Speaker B: If anything, Martin would have kicked Dave out of the band, clearly after Violator, after their big, big album, which catapulted them to superstardom.
[01:08:17] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:08:18] Speaker B: But Martin did it. I mean, Martin's note sent none of them all, none of us are.
But this band dynamic hasn't changed from the inception of the band. So, I mean, yeah, great, they're enjoying their final years together, but I hope they laugh about all the tension, all the fragile tension.
[01:08:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:08:59] Speaker B: All the budding heads boxing gloves on. Because, yeah, they made it, but they always made it together. I mean, the final thought I would say about this album, mine is the reason why this album came to be is because Martin Gore wrote four or five songs, one with Richard, but I don't know who that is.
But he.
Martin thought that these songs were way too good.
Third side project.
And so he called Richard and he said, do you mind if I put feeds on the new Debet well, album? Yeah, sure. Just credit me. And it's like, that's the type of creative Martin was. It's. I'm sure he's grown. I'm sure he wasn't always like that. Yeah, that is primarily why we have their greatest concept album. Elena, I I've gotched and fawned over everything you've done for me throughout my life, throughout all time together. But the most important thing was taking the chance to get to know me a person you didn't know from Adam and I didn't know you from Eve.
[01:11:15] Speaker A: And.
[01:11:17] Speaker B: I had to pull that totally.
[01:11:20] Speaker A: Get it one in my.
[01:11:24] Speaker B: But you introduced me to this band and for that I will be eternally grateful.
I could have never imagined last year doing a total of seven episodes with you on Vids band that we both hold dear in our hearts and.
[01:12:01] Speaker A: I.
[01:12:02] Speaker B: I judge I I really love and appreciate the gift that juvie given me over almost 20 years now and I will always be in your creative debt for really transforming my appreciation of music.
The music have hedge bled into my own writing, my own like Tronica and I have you and you alone to thank for that. And so thank you for going on this journey with me and for changing the trajectory of my journey. Creative output and your friendship means the absolute world to me. Thank you.
[01:13:19] Speaker A: Oh you're welcome. Thank you for being my friend and providing friendship. And thanks for including me on this journey. It's been a lot of fun.
[01:13:27] Speaker B: Thank you. Take care.
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